We had lots of fun times with new friends this past weekend!

After working Saturday morning with the homeless ministry, we were nicely shoved into a tourist information center, where we tried on kimonos, did calligraphy and origami!

Photos are below. The people with us all are sweet friends from Grace City Church Tokyo. 

Girls on the left, Guys on the right, and calligraphy at the bottom. :)

Then, on Saturday night we had a foreign language exchange girl's night, where we cooked and talked in Japanese and English. We made "too much lemon pasta" and eggplant which we shaped into a flower. The word for flower in Japanese is "Hana", but "Hana" can also be used when speaking about your nose! 

And on Sunday night we went out with another group of college age girls from Grace City Church and went to a restaurant which was "Izakaya" style, where basically everyone orders lots of little appetizers and everyone shares. It is a "no shoes" restaurant and you sit on tatami mats that are quite low to the floor. 

None of these four Japanese ladies are Christians, but they all attend Grace City Church quite frequently. Please be in prayer that they might come to know Christ and that we might show the love of God to them in our interactions!

A young American woman's version of a Japanese dinner:

Japanese sweet potatoes, bean sprouts, and dried seaweed. 

Complete with mizu (water) and hashi (chopsticks). 

Yum!

I went to an event called Joy Festival this past weekend. It was put on by Christian organizations and churches, and they invited some of the most popular Japanese Christian music artists to perform. It was really neat to see the Christian music industry in Japan. Even though there are not very many Christian artists, they are quite talented and quite diverse in their styles. It was a good time of worship, and even though not as many people came out as were expected, I think that those who did were blessed by the experience. Below are pictures. 

A gospel choir, which is very popular in Japan.

The Hawaiian hula dancers!

 Two Christian Japanese musicians - the one on the left sang in Spanish some and had that easy-going guitar feel, while the one on the right was pop and was definitely more modern. 

We went and got sushi, called kaiten-sushi, which is where all the sushi is on different plates on a conveyor belt and you pick which plates you want and pay by the plate. Perfect way to try sushi for the first time!

Also, another night view of the second place we stayed in Tokyo. 

And lastly, one of the most famous intersections in the world. Located in Shibuya, I got to see this from above, and when the walking light turns green, you see swarms of people all crossing paths. It moves you and gave me a small glimpse of how many people are in this city, and how many do not know the gospel.

Simplicity

Being in missions can be overwhelming. There are so many things to learn and do. It seems really complicated to be diving into a new culture and trying to help out the missionaries and churches there.
But what I've learned since being in Tokyo is that being in missions actually helps you enjoy the simple and more basic things in life. That would make sense if you were somewhere like Africa where you only had the "bare necessities" in a physical sense, but it applies to Japan as well.
Being an American in the United States is easy. People are similar to you and it's easy to get along. But at the same time people are similar and we try to distinguish ourselves through the things that don't really matter. There become cliques and groups of people we decide not to associate with. As Christians, it's easy to only associate with Christians because there are enough to go around in the States.
But in a place like Japan, there aren't that many Christians. 0.22% are professing believers. And coming into a country not knowing anyone previously, you don't know whether the person you are talking to is a Christian or not. Even in the churches, many are not Christians either. Therefore you are forced to treat everyone equally. There are no classes or ranks, no sects or divisions, and everyone needs the gospel.
That's what is so amazing about missionaries - they have the power to overcome social boundaries and reach all people for Christ.
It is so refreshing to talk to the people here because you have no biases or preconceived notions about a person or group of people. You come to realize that you all have humanity in common and that becomes enough for you to be friends. For the believers, you have Christ in common and that creates an even tighter bond.
The message of the gospel is for everyone, and it is much more simple than we think. Being here in Tokyo has helped me see that God's good news and His love has no boundaries, and we get to be the gateways of it.

After going to two amazing worship services on Sunday with God's people, we then went to "check out the competition" - visiting a shrine and a temple. Very big, but empty. 

View from my first night in Tokyo. 

"You're the God of this city."